Ed Suba Jr., Akron Beaon Journal fileKelley Williams-Bolar pauses before answering a question about her case during an interview at the Summit County Jail on Jan. 20 in Akron. Gov. John Kasich today reduced her felony convictions to misdemeanors.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - An Akron woman convicted of two felony charges for falsifying information to send her children to Copley-Fairlawn schools instead of Akron schools caught a break from Gov. John Kasich Wednesday.

Using his power of executive clemency, the Republican governor had the felony convictions of Kelley Williams-Bolar reduced to misdemeanor convictions -- which he considered more "appropriate."

"When I first heard about this situation, it seemed to me the penalty was excessive for the offense. In addition, the penalty could exclude her from certain economic opportunities for the rest of her life," Kasich said in a news release. "No one should interpret this as a pass -- it's a second chance."

Kasich's order bucked a unanimous Ohio Parole Board recommendation on Friday that she not be given a pardon for illegally sending her two daughters to a neighboring suburban school district. She served nine days in jail in January after being convicted of the felony charges of tampering with records for lying on school enrollment forms and free lunch applications in 2006 and 2007.

The Parole Board said that Williams-Bolar, 41, had "engaged in a pattern of deceitful behavior both before and after her criminal indictment."

Williams-Bolar's attorney praised Kasich's decision.

"It took a lot of courage for Governor Kasich to do so in the face of a unanimous Parole Board recommendation that clemency be denied, and we applaud him for that," David Singleton, executive director of the Ohio Justice and Policy Center, told the Associated Press.

Singleton told the AP that the decision will make it easier for Williams-Bolar to keep her job as a teacher's aide and to ultimately apply to have the conviction struck from her record.

Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh was muted in her criticism of Kasich's decision, noting in a statement that "Governor Kasich is not required to uphold a jury's verdict, nor must he follow the Parole Board's recommendation to reject clemency, even when that recommendation is unanimous."

She praised the Parole Board for carefully considering the facts, and noted that the jury that convicted Williams-Bolar upheld state laws that say "tampering with government documents is a felony offense."

In January, Bevan Walsh defended her decision to prosecute Williams-Bolar in a statement that said the mother "willfully and repeatedly broke the law" and didn't work to find a solution with the Copley-Fairlawn district short of bringing felony charges.

Williams-Bolar's case brought national media attention and sympathy from Kasich and other school choice advocates who rallied behind what they saw as a mother seeking better schools for her daughters.

Williams-Bolar told the Parole Board her motive was safety for her children, not a better school. She wanted the children to be able to go after school to her father's suburban home rather than their house in Akron, which had been recently burglarized.

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